St. John's beat Florida State for best start since 2018-19

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Joel Soriano scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and St. John's beat Florida State 93-79 in an Orange Bowl Basketball Classic doubleheader on Saturday.

Reserve Dylan Addae-Wusu's 3-pointer with 12:06 before halftime broke a tie at 18 and the Red Storm (11-1) led the rest of the way. St. John's outscored Florida State 30-19 for the remainder of the half and was up 48-37 at intermission.

St. John's all but sealed it starting the second half with a 13-4 run for its first 20-point lead of the contest at 61-41. Chandler Jackson's 3 got Florida State within 77-70 with 5:35 left but the Red Storm closed it out outscoring Florida State 16-9.

Addae-Wusu scored 20 points for St. John's, David Jones 16 and Andre Curbelo 14. St. John's shot 33 for 63 (52.4%) and made 19 of 23 (82.6%) foul shots.

Darin Green Jr. scored a career-high 30 points for Florida State on 10-for-14 shooting including 8 for 11 from distance; also a career high.

The Seminoles' (3-10) Matthew Cleveland also posted career highs scoring 23 points and securing 13 rebounds. Caleb Mills added 11 points for Florida State.

It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. St. John's has won three of its last four contests with ACC opponents, including a 76-69 overtime win earlier this season against Syracuse at Barclays Center to take home the 2022 Empire Classic title.

St. John's is off to its best 12-game start since winning its first 12 to start the 2018-19 season. The Red Storm lost in a First Four NCAA Tournament contest against Arizona State to end that season.

The Red Storm resume Big East Conference play when they face Villanova on the road on Wednesday. Florida State returns to ACC action when it hosts Notre Dame also on Wednesday.

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